Our Culture

The restoration of the spiritual twelve tribes of Israel is nothing less than the emergence of a brand new culture, expressing the unity of our faith in tangible form in the midst of a collapsing social order. The articles in this section introduce you to our way of life, including our spiritual and social life, our work, and how we raise our children.

About thirty years ago, our culture began from a few people with childlike hearts who left the popular culture of the world, walking away from their old lives. At that time it was mainly young single people, but soon there were families with children, and even grandparents.

Have you ever watched a beehive? It is fascinating seeing thousands of little bees working together to produce honey. As you come near the hive, you can hear an exciting buzz as they go about the many tasks necessary to keep the hive alive. The workers are responsible to collect nectar and guard the hive. The young bees keep the hive in good condition, feed the larvae, and support in other household chores. There is never a dull moment in the busy life of a little bee.

We are a tribal people. The folk that you will meet in our community are part of a tribespeople. Our life is expressed through living together in community. We love working with each other on our farms and in our cottage industries, doing folk dances and playing music, building, teaching our children at home, and caring for one another.

Shhh! If you are quiet, very quiet, and you listen very closely you will hear it! It is the drumbeat of a tribal people, the drums of change, the heartbeat of a new society forming… Can you hear the ancient tribal beat? It is just over the horizon… The momentum is building… for something very old is being born...

If God lived on my street, I’m sure the house would be big. It would have lots of rooms for all the widows and orphans who lived here. It would be their home, not some institutional orphanage with bars on the windows. I’m sure the rooms would have windows to let lots of light in. The house would probably be old and fixed-up, not new and plastic.

We gather together in our households at the beginning and end of each day to thank and praise our Creator for all that He has done for us. Our gatherings are spontaneous, musical and exciting. They are filled with worshipful dances and songs, as well as people sharing from the overflow of their hearts.

We have found that our Father’s ways are simple and pleasing. We have seen the love of our Creator in the things He has spoken to us. He is leading us to do what is pleasing to Him and what is pleasing to Him is healthy for us.

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the...

Have you ever wondered why the vast majority of Christians don’t keep the Sabbath, even though it is one of the Ten Commandments? Does it really matter to God which day His people honor above all the others?

The Sabbath is the commandment the world has forgotten, even most of those claiming somehow to be Israel. This is all the more striking, even ironic, in that it begins with the words, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”1 And no other command in the Law of God receives more explanation than this, or has more prophetic vision attached to it, and which culminates in the stirring words, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land.”2
1. Exodus 20:8
2. Leviticus 25:10

If the early believers did not honor the seventh day Sabbath (as so many say), then it certainly matters very little what day believers gather together. But if they did, and if those gatherings were full of spiritual and prophetic meaning, then the Sabbath is just as important to New Covenant Israel as it was to Old. While it would be strange if it weren’t, given its importance in the Old Covenant scriptures (which is all the church had in the beginning), so many say it isn’t. And...

Each person’s life reveals his beliefs — sometimes uncomfortably so... when what he does contradicts what he claims to believe. One outstanding belief that should affect people’s lives in a noticeable and outward way is Sabbath-keeping. Both Jews and an increasing number of Christians say that the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath.

The lion had been the undisputed king of the beasts. No one dared say otherwise. He had it all — the survival of the fittest. He was at the top of this social order, right or wrong. He was known as a “have.”

Have you heard about the radical new movement? People of different backgrounds and races from all over the world are leaving everything behind to form tight-knit communities. The work is shared, the money is shared, and possessions are shared, all for the sake of the movement. In this environment there is healing.

We work with our hands to earn all the money we live on and pay our taxes with. Depending on the community, our labor is divided up into three principal areas: service, cottage industry, and stores. We also do farming in the communities that have the ability. There we grow organic foods and herbs for our people and to sell on a small-scale level.

Some of us live on a farm in Vermont, and we heat our home with a woodstove. Many a cold morning I’ve gone to the stove and opened it up to find only a pile of ashes. Although it seems to be dead, I stir up the heap and blow on those black and gray coals, bringing to life a dull red glow in the burnt-out belly of that stove. I rake the coals all together in a pile, and the more I gently blow on the embers the brighter they glow until they’re hot enough to ignite some tinder. I...

Idealistic young people in every generation seek for an alternative way of living. They sense the emptiness and alienation that permeates human existence. Deep in the soul lies the knowledge that human beings need a more meaningful way of relating to other human beings than what society offers. Seekers from the 50s through the 90s have all felt alien in a hostile world, so they have looked for an alternative — organic food, holistic medicine, diverse music, intentional communities, sexual...

It’s amazing how much is spoken about the Kingdom of God in the New Testament while so little is spoken of it in the churches. One of the very first times Yahshua spoke, He spoke about the Kingdom of God.1 It says, “It’s right at the door! The Kingdom is right here!
1. Mark 1:14-15

The New Israel,1 or the New Sons of Jacob,2 is an alliance of twelve tribes.3 Joshua 24 shows the tribes of old Israel gathered one last time under their great commander, Joshua.
1. Galatians 6:16
2. Isaiah 44:5
3. Isaiah 49:6,8; Acts 26:6-7

“Come together!” was the cry that became a Movement in the ’60s. It was in the heart of a whole generation, fueled by a desire for a love we sensed was possible and a justice we knew the world needed. Woodstock in 1969 offered the hope that people could actually come together and love one another, caring for each other, sticking together like glue, being loyal friends and lovers forever. Something basic in the human spirit was ignited to motivate a new generation to...

What is the role of women in the Twelve Tribes? The dictionary definition of role is 1) A character or part played by an actor in a dramatic performance. 2) The characteristic and expected social behavior of an individual. 3) A function or position.

A place1 to belong is a place2 where we can be made fit for the Kingdom, a place where help can be applied to our malady,3
1. 1 Timothy 2:8, NASB
2. Malachi 1:11; 1 Corinthians 1:2; Luke 13:25 – a town like Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:10)
3. Malice — A desire to harm others or to see others suffer; extreme ill will or spite.

When a beehive becomes overcrowded, the bees decide to swarm. This means that the queen and half of the bees make preparations to leave the hive and start a new colony. Once everything is ready they throng together with one impulse and soar out in a noisy dark cloud, traveling closely together until they reach their final destination.

For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. (1 Corinthians 14:33)
Many times and places have brought about short bursts of truth. Men at various times have stumbled across obvious truths in the Scriptures and taken them on as emblems, waving them proudly like a flag.

Modesty is a word not commonly used these days. Most people hardly know what the word actually means, and for many it brings to mind images of over-dressed women of the 1800s or some such thing. But modesty is actually a very wonderful thing, much deeper than the clothes you wear, which are only the outward expression of it. Modesty is a matter of the heart. The word modesty literally means to have a proper estimation of one’s own self. This means to not think too highly or too lowly of...